IMPROVING
web chat
for dental patients
Experiences, both good and bad, make us human. I’m a big believer that it is our job as Designers to make sure the digital experiences are good ones.
Connection and feeling cared for is a huge part of UX for me. I designed this experience with that in mind.
I broke this my process into 3 sections, How we can find a solution, Why I chose to design this chat the way I did, and What the solution could look like.
the brief
For your project, please consider the following problem. In an effort to provide Dental patients a more convenient way to communicate with current or potential Dental offices, you are considering launching a new online web chat solution for customers.
What are some innovative ways to solve this problem, What are other software companies doing, and how could you solve this problem specifically for Dentists?
thinking it through
Customer discovery
First and foremost, we need to address the need for a web chat solution specifically for dental patients. From the brief, we automatically know convenience is a problem we are trying to solve.
A general assumption we can (most-likely) make, is that the ones chatting in feel more comfortable texting than calling in.
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The best place to start would be to anticipate the needs of the users and start the conversation first. This helps the user feel cared for and important.
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In terms of User Research, I think we could start with contextual inquiries by looking at heat maps (possibly filtered by demographic), and common search terms on the dental website. We could also do surveys and questionnaires to figure out specific pain points.
Once we establish some feedback, we could narrow down the audience further by doing a beta test or A/B testing 2 different design solutions.
Contextual Inquiry:
• Heat maps on FAQ page
- Filtered by Demographic - moms with young kids
• Common search terms (ex.
Surveys and Questionnaires:
• Survey to dental patients
- Figure out specific pain points
Beta Testing
• A/B testing
- Result metrics: bounce rate? Time on site? Appointments made?
user
research
wireframes/Research
I chose to design this on mobile first because, fun dentist fact. More people own mobile phones than toothbrushes.
Some solutions I looked into were starting with a form the patient would fill out to get more information but I figured that was too formal especially if they are chatting in in frustration. We need to be designing for worst case scenarios, not best case.
I also thought about making the chat box to one side or another but I figured once the patient makes the decision to chat, it should take up the whole screen.
For research, I did some competitive research to see what others are doing. Podium and MedChat use a simple form to acquire some personal information. LiveAgent creates a sense of security when asking for information and links their privacy policy before the chat even happens.
Solution
